Sunday, April 24, 2016

Thailand Week 9: Korat

IT IS HOT!!!

Hi Family!!! :)

I am alive and well. A lot happened in this past week. I mean A LOT!

Let's take my time and share what happened shall we? :)

Flight to Thailand:

AWESOME! I slept a lot. And when I wasn't sleeping I was reorganizing my marked scriptures with post it notes. I was fed THREE MEALS on the plane! It was actually good food. Perhaps because I just ate too much MTC food for the past 9 weeks. And and and I got awesome seats. First flight I had a whole row to myself. Second flight I had a seat that did not have a seat in front of it. So I had great leg room and would do leg stretches quite often. The last flight I had a window seat... so I just knocked out and slept upon the window.

Arrival in Thailand: First impression? I MISS THAILAND! I'm so happy to be here. Hahaha... Then I walked outside. and was suddenly having beads of sweat drench my clothes. Wearing suit does not help. Hahah.

I am glad that you guys get to see pictures of me! That means I don't really have to send ALL my pics. :) I really am excited to serve in Thailand. It's actually quite funny because many missionaries came up to me and said... "You smile a lot. You're awesome." Hahahah. I have no reason not to smile... I get to do the best thing EVER! Serve God by serving others. :)

We stayed at a Hotel nearby the Mission Office. It was really cool. Small but nice. That was my last couple nights with Elder Hunt. I really hope that he's doing well. As well as all the other missionaries. But yeah. The coolest/funniest thing that I saw at that hotel as a sign saying "NO DURIANS...." with a fee of 5000 baht or something. Haha.

But yeah! I really am excited to have a temple here in Thailand. There are a lot of faithful members who really wants to go to Hong Kong... But really can't. :( But it will come. And I will definitely be here when it opens! WHOO!

Transfer Day:

I got an Elder Reid! Hahahah. He's really awesome. He's from Washington and is 20 years old. Has an amazing music talent. And he currently has 3 months left before he goes home! Therefore, I am his first and last greenie. Regardless of being a greenie, I told him straight up... "This is going to be the best transfer ever!"... He laughed, smiled and agreed. He wanted to end his mission with a good one. :) Elder Reid gave me a sweet tie... I gave him an Aloha shirt. LOL

The trip to Korat was really cool. I was kind of like... Blehhh. I felt really drowsy... Must be the jet-lag thing or something. The trip consisted of a Taxi to the Bus station (15 mins) and a bus ride to Korat (6 hours)... It only took that long because the bus driver kept slowing down and stopping so that khon Thais could fill up the bus. Which makes sense. :) So no argument needed.

House in Korat is pretty swell. I'll definitely use some time today to clean up the place. :)

Food here is pretty ped?(hot) I don't know how to spell it. Hahaha. My tummy likes to drag me to the bathroom occasionally. But it's getting adjusted. My tongue seems to be the one that really stopping me from wanting to eat spicy food. But I think it's beginning to tolerate the heat... It'll eventually will. Other than that.. Food is arroe maag!

I got my bike. Hahahha. I forgot the pin number for the card so I couldn't withdraw cash to buy it.... So Elder Reid kindly spotted me and was willing to loan me money... I'll be paying him back today... :) It was 7.800 baht... it includes the bike, helmet and lock. It suay maag! I love biking. It's like natural way of cooling down. But sadly... It's HOT air that rushes through my hair. Therefore..... SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT.

Speaking of sweat. Eating spicy food doesn't help. Hahahha

These last several days out in Korat has been great. I met a lot of the members... through Mutual(Sports night), LA activity (Less active.. Members come together... Select less-active members... Break up in groups and visit them. It's really cool. We're currently trying to push members into doing home teaching... I guess it wasn't really explained or introduced.) and baptism!

This was sister nam's baptism. She's a solid person. Very willing. She immediately gave up coffee, no problem! Crazyyy! And she usually drinks 2 coffee cans a day.. But now... NOPE! :)

Sister nam was an investigator and friend of sister Jenny(Khon Thai). Sister Jenny was taught by Sister Mamea. :) COOL CONNECTIONS! Oh! A lot of the members mentioned elders and sisters who happens to be my teachers at the MTC. So it's quite awesome. :) It helped me have the desire not to let my teachers down as well!

I have been drinking TONS of water. The church and our house is the source for my water. LOL But yeah... Meh. Every dinner... I usually eat soup or something similar. 45 baht or something. :)

Today:

In companionship study, I learned about Elder Reid's desire to focus on his purpose and make this his best 3 months. :)

Because of Elder Reid's last companion, he hasn't really got the chance to focus on investigators and members. His comp had several breakdowns and issues... Therefore, President Johnson requested Elder Reid to help his companion regain his testimony and faith before his comp finished his mission. Elder Reid's past companion just finished his mission couple weeks ago... And Elder Reid is glad that he was able to help him out prior to finishing his mish. Now that he finished his mission.... He is doing well.. and currently has a great testimony of this gospel.

Because of this special assignment from President Johnson... Elder Reid wasn't used to street contacting or engaging with others for a LONG time. So today... We committed ourselves to really try to invite others we see. On the way here to the internet cafe (2 minutes away).. we managed to talk to two khon thais. One was prepping food and the other one was driving a food cart. We invited them to come to church this week and they said they'll come. When they said this... I WAS SO HAPPY. It was the first step to conversion. :) I really hope that they do come. I'm like 80% sure that they will.. they really did seem interested. :) We may have lessons with them later on this week or so.

KHON THAIS ARE AMAZING. The faith shown from the members is tremendous. It's much different from Hawaii or America. When khon thais talk about their studies, prayers, etc. It's really PURE. It's straight from their hearts. I got the chance to teach Brother Bon Chay yesterday. He's been an investigator for 2 years. Issue is that he has been struggling with smoking... What's amazing is that he comes to church every week. He knows that something great is here. I was able to share about faith... and that with faith, God will allow him to do anything that expedient in Him. I really sense his desire to be baptized... I hope he'll overcome his addiction. :)

I love being a missionary. Since day one, we haven't fulfilled every key indicators/goals. At first, I thought that I wasn't doing enough. But eventually I realized that as long as I do my best... It is well. It feels good to come home exhausted and tired. It feels good to wake up with a fire.. ready to start another day's of God's work. Really, missionary work is lovely. :)

I love you guys. I carry pictures of you guys with me all the time. Whenever families comes into discussion, I would share the pictures and talk about you guys. You guys are my backbone... The gospel is the marrow of my backbone. Hahahahah. (I just made that up on the spot).

I know that this gospel is true. I know that Jesus lives and that God loves us. I know that we can live eternally in peace and joy. I know that my family can be together forever.

LOVE YOU GUYS!

P.S. Uncle PJ and Aunty Nuj... I really think I'll be able to meet with you guys someday. Maybe not anytime soon.. but eventually. :)

Thanks, aunty Beth. Please feel free to write me. I do love to hear from you and Brigham. My email address is gabriel.santeco@myldsmail.net. And if you want to do a snail mail, you can mail your letter to

About Me

สวัสดี My name is Elder Santeco. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been called to serve a 2-year mission to proclaim the gospel in the Bangkok, Thailand Mission.
Join me in this wonderful journey!